we're back from vacation, and trying to recuperate. wyatt's having a tough time getting back in the swing of things; i laid him down at 8:30 last night and he didn't get up until 1 this afternoon. and then after being up for two hours he went back to sleep, waking up for a few more hours and then going to bed at 9. we'll see what tomorrow brings. i wish i could sleep that much, but alas, lil' cassie and tom need to eat and someone has to do the laundry.

check out youtube.com/user/beahblake for some videos of the trip. that's cousin abbie being a brave little girl on the alpine slide and the rock wall and the trampoline. wyatt mostly kicked the ball and threw rocks. it was a good time, but we're glad to be home.

i'm trying to pacify those who want just a little something. i don't want to disappoint you and then lose my readership. it's cool here, about 70' or so and for the mountains that's warm. but still glorious. we've been out on the playground and kicking the ball and eating. wyatt is learning a lot of words, and figuring out how to open and close sliding doors and especially how to share.

it's an adventure when the three franz girls get together. rachel got here today and we're waiting for the crazy to officially start. saturday night we played hearts and it got a little out of control, ending with my parents rolling their eyes, sarah laughing hysterically and me laying on the floor trying to imitate michael scott dancing on the booze cruise. i guess you had to be there.

i'll post some pictures for you all soon, if there are any post-worthy ones. on a side note, as food is a hot topic, i made gnocchi for the family last night and it was a wonderful success. dad was especially impressed and said he's going to give it a try himself. try out the gnoocchi recipe i told you about. you won't be disappointed. just make sure you make the gnocchi bake like susan does, otherwise it's a little boring.

i tried several times to just post the videos here, but it keeps giving me errors and even when it didn't i had two youtube tv screens of the same thing. "it's the same thing!" so go to youtube (youtube.com/user/beahblake)(because now it's not letting me link you there -- the things i do for you!) and check it out for yourself. there are a couple of new videos. happy vacation to me. happy school/work/heat to you.

we've had a breakthrough. cassidy is getting used to the crib with her fun blanket and little dolly and laughing bear. and no pacifier. there are times when she fights for more than 5 minutes, but usually it's a little fuss and then out. she's going in the way of her awesome brother and playing in her crib when she wakes up. it's a much easier transition than crying. i like it and propose all children wake up in such a manner.

as a sidenote, we're going to colorado for a week on friday, so i can't promise anything spectacular. in the meantime, here are some photos from fillthewell. it was a lot of fun. maybe you should space out how many photos you look at so you can come back in a few days and see another one that you haven't seen. then you'll feel like i posted something new...

this is tom and wyatt with their rockstar buddy sam.

this is jessica and maasen. aren't they some of the prettiest girls in town?

and here's auntie lauren and her little son noah. he's growing so much, he smiles and coos now. i love having a nephew across the street. and a sister too.

here's wyatt with big cousin harrison. wyatt was drinking decaf, don't worry.

take care of yourselves and i'll try to keep you updated on the 70' weather.

1:42 am
cassidy is crying.
and crying. and then stopping. and then crying.
tonight is the first night, sans pac, that she's woken up in the middle of the night. so she's crying.

2:1o am
i go in and rub her back, try to "shhh" her back to sleep. i leave the room, her cries echoing in the hallway.

2:11 am
still crying. then stopping. then crying some more.

2:50 am
she's having it all out now. one last wail...

2:53 am
quiet.

3:03 am
still quiet. i get in bed, the dishwasher is unloaded and the kitchen is clean.

3:15 am
lots of thoughts racing in my head and i decide to get up and turn on the computer.

3:35 am
write some e-mails, blog, stomach is starting to growl. all i want is to be sound asleep.
like tom.
like wyatt.
like cassidy.

things i'm loving right now:
-wyatt leaning into me as i clean off his hands from lunch
-stacking blocks as tall as wyatt
-listening to "whad'ya know"
-two sleeping babes with their special blankets in their cribs
-making time to read
-keeping the house picked up
-the thought of being in colorado in a week

things i'm not loving right now:
-cass's next sleepytime adventure
-i'm hungry
-reading elie wiesel's _night_ and realizing he lost his faith in God because of hitler

slowly, slowly, she's learning that her crib is nice without the pacifier. tip #1, make sure she's good and tired when you put her in there. she'll have less energy to cry about it if she's pooped out.
and yes, she did open her eyes when the flash went off, but she fell back asleep. glorious!

after months of putting it off and then a couple failed attempts, i have resigned myself to breaking cassidy of her pacifier addiction. it's an ugly situation and i'm not sure how the rest of the family will handlle it, but so far no casualties. at 6am i fed her and then tried to give her the pacifier. repeatedly. she did not want it. i wanted her to sleep, so i tried one more time and then gave up. i let her cry. i crawled back into bed. (mind you i had already fed cassidy and made tom's lunch at this point) i listened to her cry. waiting for wyatt to cry. she cried and then stopped. and then started crying again. and then stopped. then cried. i told myself, two more cries and i'll get out of bed. one...two. i got up and decided to be productive. oh no! not another productive day!

appropriately, as i listened to my daughter scream out for her beloved pac (soft c, pronounced "pass" and definitely not a binky) i turned on pedro the lion. david bazan's ep 'whole' seemed the most appropriate album. he wails about addiction on it, and quite wonderfully. after sitting on the sunporch where it was a little bit nice, and asking God for his grace to handle today and whatever happens, i entered the house welcomed by silence. no david bazan screaming "almost there" and no cass screaming about her missing pac. even wyatt was peacefully sleeping. or reading silently. i spent the morning reading 'copernicus and the jews' (daniel gruber) and then took a 5 minute nap.

now for round two...

i went into wyatt's room last night to change his diaper (i forgot to put a big one on him before bed) and found him like this. he was breathing, but thanks to the blanket didn't flinch when i took the picture.

today i did some hebrew action. actually, i put hebrew thought into action. one of the fundamental concepts of hebrew thought is obedience first, understanding later, maybe. God gave us instructions on how to live life, not as suggestions or things for us to explain to eachother, but to do them. DO. yes, this makes sense. but still, our little brains want to understand something before we do it. and in most instances that's wisdom. however, knowing that God is good and his ways are good is enough of a reason do anything he tells us to do.

so this morning i got up at 5 to feed cassidy. then again at 7 (i'm trying to feed her more right now because i don't think she's getting enough to eat. although currently she's going on a 5 hour stretch. you figure her out) and continued with the morning. i made tom's lunch and tried to soothe cassidy. i emptied the dishwasher and thought, ooh, wyatt's still quiet. i'll put cass in her exersaucer and take a little nap while he's still quiet. so i put her in and slide into bed. as i pulled the blanket up, more like yanked, i hit the cup on my nightstand and water went everywhere. and then i heard him. wyatt's waking up.

i cleaned up the water and then decided, this is useless. i headed downstairs to do laundry and realized, this is good. i'll get lots of stuff done this morning. even though i'd much rather be in bed right now, i will feel satisfied getting these things done. and i am satisfied. no nap but i have clean bathrooms, clean clothes, clean counters and qualtiy time with paul and lauren. just a quick lunch before cassidy decides she is really hungry and then on with the rest of the day.

and that's a simplified version of hebrew action. there are so many bad slogans coming to mind: just do it, why ask why, etc. this little scenario may not prove helpful to you, but it's God's way of showing me what action does...it gets things done.

cassie sines wins the award for best commenter! congratulations, cassie. i consider myself a giver of words of encouragement, but it feels great to receive them as well. here's a link that will put you to all the videos; this is so easy. http://youtube.com/user/beahblake

also, don't forget fillthewell.org. the benefit is tomorrow night at 6 and there are bands and food and humanitarian reasons. it's at paradigm, which is right across from antioch family worship center, antioch and I-35.

sound the alert...there should be a new video of cassidy on youtube by the time you all check this. i don't have the link, but if you go to the other videos it should show up. just a friday morning treat. shabbat shalom.

hooray! susan has officially started her own blog. this girl is funny and smart and cute. wow. even though it's still in its infancy it's a great little place and this first post is definitely worth reading. welcome, susan. i'm glad you're here...

arrowsofhope.blogspot.com

more! more! more! they cry. so i will give you more. here's video taken just this afternoon of the little pro practicing his moves with his papa. he's rocking it up! we're thinking wyatt will be a public school soccer star. it would be great if his games were on thursday nights and not fridays...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=funMsXDt_98

also, i just want to make it public that i love my husband. i watched "the holiday" last night with the girls. jude law plays this great dad of two girls and jack black is this loser-in-a-cute-way artist guy and i realized i have the best man --he's a combo package. dorky but funny, cool but kind. he loves the kids and me and everybody else. and he's really really ridiculously good looking.

youtube. here's some wy-guy fun. this is really more fun for people who haven't seen the curls. it's gone beyond the euro-mullet, although his footskills are definitely looking like premier league quality. check out the hair...he does have the hiccups in this episode so he's a little hard to understand...oh wait, that's just his babbling. there's one word you can definitely understand, "yeah!"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=chsMY1pEEQY

there may be more videos that you haven't seen or that i loaded after this post... so check it out. he's a funny little guy doing things that make him happy and they make me laugh. soon cass will make her debut; the last video really turned out to be all about wyatt, now didn't it? she'll probably smile through the whole video. that's just what she does.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XUUW7r_cSCY

please check this out and come if you can -- it will be a great time for a really great purpose. and this little video is rad. fillthewell.org the artwork, the layout, the links, the information -- it is all wonderful. i'm personally excited about seeing the sailor sequence. they sound very nice. and jordan and friends because they really are friends. and kyle blake because he's family. and i don't know anything about mccoy, but i hope they're country folk.

come, eat sweeties, drink some good strong coffee, rock out to local music and maybe even buy some art. if nothing else, it's a good reminder that we live in a country where we can tell people that jesus is free and water is clean. so bring your dollars and your dancing shoes and be prepared for a good time.

i'm telling you, if you get bored because i'm not a consistent poster, read miss janet's brilliance. if you don't laugh out loud at least once i'll bake you something yummy.

also, august 4th is a benefit event for our friend matt anderson -- music, art, food, charity. he's going to africa to dig wells. he's taking the holy spirit with him. i'll give you details soon*

shabbat shalom.

i know it's been a while. it's been another busy week and now i'm at my folks' house with the kiddos. tom's in chicago for the umjc conference and i'm vacationing. yesterday we just hung out and had good dinner; we did pretty much the same today. i made challah and cinnamon rolls* and now we're waiting for sarah, james and abbie to show up. seeing as it's raining we'll have to put the pool on hold but there's always something fun to do at gigi and papo's house.

i watched "the man who knew too little" with bill murray. he didn't watch it with me, he's in it. it's the first time i've seen it from start to finish and i highly recommend it. hilarious if you like mr. murray. annoying if you don't.

i'm working on another album for my sister and stayed up late working on that and watching "burn notice" on usa. it's a brilliant show. the writing is good and the acting as well. i haven't watched a current sitcom in so long (minus "the office" which i watch over and over thanks to itunes) it was kind of addictive. reminds me why we don't have cable any more. it sucks away the hours. hours i should be sleeping or reading. but for vacation it was nice to just indulge. it used to be that i watched tv for hours. last year i remember when the christian radio stations promoted turning off our tvs for the month of august. i wondered if we could do it. i almost talked to tom about it but didn't want to give up survivor and the cosby show. a couple months later we went cold turkey and there's no looking back. i love the life we have without television. more room for people. and baking. and the big man. it's a good trade.

(*these cinnamon rolls are INCREDIBLE. people ask for them all the time. and even if they don't i make them anyway. they make about 24 rolls if you're smart and rise a ton when you bake them. i put them in round cake pans instead of cupcake tins. they get big! yummm)

(sorry it took me so long, cassie. you probably won't even read this till monday, but know that i tried to post before 5...)

sarah and i took the kids to the swimming pool yesterday and then got to hang out once the kiddos were asleep. we talked about album design and then she gave me these photos from my birthday. talk about cuties. we had fun. well, we had fun most of the time. sorry, rachel. here are some happier moments for the little guy.

this is so hilarious. my mom is part of a group of ladies called the pink flamingos. they get together and do old lady things. and they dress like wild women. they collect all the pink flamingo stuff they can find (see, bri, flamingos aren't too scary, right?) abbie is really kind to feed these birds that live at my mom's house.

that's a lot of candles. recently i've found that i've forgotten how old i am. all i have to do is remember it was my "golden" birthday. what a special one that is.

on a sidenote: anybody recognize this face? it must run in the family. you're right, DeAnn.

bread

go to allrecipes.com and print out 'jo's rosemary bread.' i know, it's for breadmachines, but don't worry. i don't have one and i made it. delicious.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jos-Rosemary-Bread/Detail.aspx

here's what i did:
the water, olive oil, sugar, and salt are according to the instructions. (1 cup water, 3T olive oil, 1 1/2 t sugar, 1 1/2 t salt).

then i added 1/4 teaspoon of oregano, 1/4 teaspoon of basil, 1 teaspoon of rosemary, 1/4 teaspoon of sage. 1 package of active dry yeast and 2 1/2 cups of flour. i mixed it all together, leaving the flour for last. once it's formed a ball, knead the bread for 10 minutes. add flour if you need to, but not too much. it will probably still be a bit sticky. drizzle olive oil on bowl, transfer dough make sure the dough gets covered lightly with olive oil. then place a cloth over the top.

jessica's tip for rising in a warm place is to pull out one of the racks of your oven, i use the middle one, and then turn the oven to the lowest temperature. this provides heat but doesn't bake it. make sure you put it in an oven safe bowl, however. the rack does get hot. l

et the bread rise for about 30 minutes in a warm place. punch it down, roll it out to about a 12" loaf, place on baking sheet, cover with light cloth (i used a paper towel. fancy, eh?) and place on oven rack for warmth to rise again. let it rise for about an hour. bake at 400' for approximately 15 minutes.

obviously everyone's oven is different, so adjust it accordingly. i used this for sandwiches and it was wonderful. really soft and flavorful. i've been looking for a bread like this, was frstutrated that it had bread machine directions ("place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine and select white bread cycle", helpful, huh?), but thanful that i've made bread enough to know a process for it. SERIOUSLY: i strongly suggest this bread. you should have no trouble. i'll be making it again this week and might have some photos.

i know this seems over the top. i'm having one of those days where i think my children are AMAZING. simply put, they are cute. cass is becoming a sleeping queen and wyatt is talking more and more. so here they are, in just a moment of funnyness, interacting. she watches him like a hawk and he thinks it's fun to treat her like a baby. i guess that's fair. some heads up, i think wyatt's been working on these numbers all morning and he thinks they're pretty good. cass looks a little disappointed, much like donald trump when he says "yah fiyad." that's some awesome hair she has coming in, huh? i guess when you're little it's alright to judo chop someone when the deal goes sour. again, i realize no one else may think this is funny, but i get a kick out of just about everything my kids do. that's normal, isn't it?

thanks to the new readers 'fessing up, susan and cassie. it's always good to know people are reading because sometimes...you wonder if your friend ryan has set up a fake account that's really just a word document so no one can read what you think is noteworthy. hats off to you girls.

there's more than a few things going on, and right now i'm feeling a little "procrastinatey". so, good shabbat as they say in "fiddler" or "shabbat shalom" as we usually sing.

for those of you who don't know, i have a more than talented sister named sarah (rachel is talented as well, more in the teaching kids how to do amazing things realm) and she has enlisted me to help her design a wedding album. i hesitate to do these kinds of things for her and kelly because i fear that when i give it to them they'll just redo the whole thing. so i have four pages done, at least, with some semblence of what they should look like, and i'm getting ready to send them off for approval. it's a rough job, telling myself she wants me to do this because she thinks i have an okay eye, but not really trusting myself enough to think it looks good. we'll see what she has to say. i'm just hoping to save her a little time in her over-scheduled life. she is superwoman, what arthur burke would call a ruler. she does it well.

also, i have several chapters and verses that i need to look up and refresh myself with, for personal and communal reasons, and i'm putting that off. i know it will get deep once i get into it, and so i'm hesitant. i'm looking forward to what God has to reveal, but it's 9:40 and i'm pretty sure i could go to sleep, except tom's not home and i'd rather just turn my head off altogether.

so, i'm blogging. and i'll tell you something that is oh so fun: wyatt has these red high top chuck taylors that he loves, right? the other morning, as i got him out of bed he pointed to the dresser and said "red shoes." of course it all slurs together, but it was definitely "red shoes." he talks a ton, for those that don't know (check out youtube and the previous post) but he's becoming more clear on everything. cottage cheese. fire truck. oh, these are the words that make me smile. he's mastered the stairs and climbs them like he's preparing for a soccer match. and cassie make me smile every day. recently it's been because of her cuddling with this floppy horse her auntie susan got her. we're pushing for it to be her favorite sleepy friend. and that's what i can come up with. hope the 4th was fun, i can't say we did anything wonderful. i guess we ate food and that's a tradition i hope never changes, no matter what the circumstances. wyatt held his first sparkler and tom was a little sad that we weren't there at the beginning of that adventure. maybe next year wyatt will be into roman candles.

we've been busy...friends with trouble, pops with hearts that aren't working right, kids that are adjusting to life as they know it...but in the meantime, here's a link to wyatt at his finest -- little sleep and a will to steal attention from his little sister. it's a bit lengthy but really funny. so says his momma at least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsblVRxM7yQ

i've been busy figuring out youtubbe and loading some videos of the little guy there. check them out if you have time. but here are some still photos of the family:

high heels really aren't a good look with plaid shorts.
cowboy boots are a little better.but red chuck taylors and camo, now that's a look i can go for.
cassie is figuring her way around the exersaucer.
wyatt refuses to sit in his highchair anymore, so he's moved to the big table in the booster seat. he's also very good about using a coaster for his drink.

cassidy is the happiest victim of a stick-up.

wyatt talks seriously about the fundamentals of soccer: balls.

my parents will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this year, and in light of this fact, our four year anniversary doesn't seem so monumental. but to us, it's pretty fun. we've been through a lot in that amount of time, most of it really wonderful, some of it sort of hard. i think you'll find that we still have those big smiles on our faces most of the time. i may roll my eyes a little more than i used to and tom probably steals more kisses than he'd like, but we're excited about where God is taking us. we both have different hairstyles now and i can't quite fit into that dress anymore, but i still like to hold his hand and i love the old timer/cowboy that sits at my supper table every night. i thought i was marrying a teacher, started out with an insurance salesman, spent some time with a painter and now i have a combination of painter/mentor/ministryman/teacher/comedian/ insuranceguide/handyman/papa/sweetheart. he's a rennaisance man of sorts, but i like to call him boo.

(give the bangs some time, honey, you might like them)

i know i'm a little delayed, but it seems that he was too...after 15 days of thinking he was coming and then six days of real contractions and then 27-- TWENTY SEVEN -- hours of labor, noah caleb blake debuted. may 31st (just three days beyond sharing it with his own auntie across the street, so close) was quite a day for lauren and paul and harrison. he's a cutie and quite skinny, but that shouldn't come as much of a surprise, he's a blake. his story is great: from lauren's endurance with gestational diabetes, to noah being breach and then turning, to her constant yet inconsistent contractions, then the possibility of noah having really large shoulders and lauren maybe having a c-section, wow! thanks to many MANY prayers lauren's diabetes didn't cause her to have any serious complications(noah doesn't have diabetes and lauren's went away once she gave birth, hence the "gestational" part), noah turned on his, his shoulders weren't too big and lauren gave birth (almost) exactly how she wanted. i got to see her a little before she started pushing (about 24 hours into the labor part) and she looked wonderful. after the epidural and a very short nap her countenance was lifted and she seemed ready to tackle the world. which she kind of did. all this to say: believe that the creator of the universe has you in his hands if you just let him pick you up. lauren never doubted the Lord's will for her and noah and knew that things would be fine and she stood on that. and here he is. he's remarkably cute for so little, especially considering this one picture was taken while they were still in the hospital. so praise the Lord, he does great things.
also, do you see this woman? she has 4 kids (3 of them boys!) and 7 grandchildren. she is amazing and beautiful. she's wyatt and cassidy's mima and she's fabulous. hubba hubba.

gnocchidding

i made gnocchi tonight according the "gnocchi I" recipe from allrecipes.com and then combined it in a gnocchi bake, a la susan simon. (she might have gotten this recipe from allrecipes.com as well). round out the meal with some garlic and parmesan biscuits and YUM! it was so good. i encourage anyone who hasn't already, try gnocchi. and make it. it was so easy. i added a little garlic salt to my batter and it was just enough to make it fantastic. i have to say i have never had real italian gnocchi so i'm not sure what it's supposed to taste like but tom loved it when susan made it (he said it reminded him of the gnocchi he had in italy) and he loved it tonight. not much leftover for wyatt but i'm sure tom will fight him for it.

sidenote: allrecipes.com is wonderful. check it out if you haven't. the reviews make all the difference.

is it really strange that as i lie here in bed (lie? lay?) i'm looking forward to using my new stand mixer, courtesy of cuisinart? i used it yesterday to make foccacia and it was thrilling. i just threw things in and it spun around. powerfully i might add. i didn't go for the retro-style kitchenaid mixer. i opted for the more powerful, slightly larger bowl, sewing machine-looking cuisinart. i'm pleased, to say the least. what do i plan on making with my mixer? challah bread, for sure.

my sister-in-law introduced me to challah (pronounced with so much phlegm you'll need a hanky) a little while ago when she dropped off a slice on a friday afternoon. she informed me that every friday we're supposed to have challah, because it's shabbat. and this is where things in my head begin to spin.

last summer i was reading through the first few books of the old testament. when i came upon the ten commandments i was so confused. there in exodus 20 he tells us "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

okay, so i assume that he's talking about me keeping the sabbath holy for him. and i follow all the other commandments as best i can (with a lot of grace) but what does keeping the sabbath holy even mean? did i miss this sunday school lesson when i pretended i was sick and lamented the fact that i wouldn't get to eat arby's for lunch OR play with my friends? i don't think that's the case (although i wish it were).

here are the problems: when is the sabbath? is it on sunday or saturday? does it start in the morning or the evening? what qualifies as work? and how do i keep it holy? is it possible for me to not work one day each week when i'm a wife and mother? i'm trying to wrap my life around this concept, to remember this will make the rest of my week feel different. and i'm trying to not be legalistic about the whole thing, because while some may say cooking is work, it's usually a joy to me. especially if i'm using my stand mixer. and i can't let a dirty diaper go unchanged for 24 hours, so maybe that won't count as "work" but easing my children's burdens.

all in all, though, i like this commandment. i want to obey it. my whole life the term "sabbath" didn't mean anything except sunday morning service, but it's supposed to remind me of the beginning of life. it's hard work, i imagine, making something out of nothing. but i wonder if he really did take a break, what with adam and eve running around down there...

'65 mustang

i am a free woman. officially. last night i drove out to the middle of nowhere, narrow-laned country and then home again. in the dark. during a massive rainstorm. on skinny roads, on highway, on shawnee mission parkway with the stop and go of traffic lights every ten seconds. in the 4-runner. and i never killed it. and cassidy slept the whole way home. hallelujah. now i really feel like i can go anywhere. i thought i was victorious after going to sam's and whole foods the other day, but this proves i can drive a stick. it seems silly to all of you manual drivers. laugh if you will. i've been learning to drive stick since i turned sixteen. that's twelve years, people.

first it was my dad trying to teach me in his 5-speed bmw in the high school parking lot. i couldn't do it because i was "hormonal." we still laugh about that one.

then brad lewis tried to teach me because we were travelling to seattle in his subaru and i didn't know how to drive it. i made it around the block but when we got on the real road i defaulted to him and stephanie and the other brad for driving. i slept and sang a lot. and really, i'm surprised i never wanted stephanie to teach me to drive. she was a pro. she had the boys beat on "power shifting." that girl can do anything. except grow her hair longer than mine -- never!

and tom tried to teach me after we sold the corolla and before he went to guatamala so i wouldn't be homebound. so eight months later, with a little help from my pops (full circle i guess) i'm on the road again. and if you hear a loud rumble it might be me, shifting from fifth to second. come to find out that's not recommended but it's all a little blurry in the rain.

more like wyatt looks like a kewpie doll, even without the photoshopping.

our friend cassie thinks tom might look a little bit like a kewpie doll. what do you think? (who else remembers kewpie dolls?)

what have i been doing? reading other people's blogs. it's so fun to have links to other interesting and artisitic stuff.
oh, and playing with wyatt. we pulled out the lincoln logs the other day. they're real wood. i want to put the whole set together, but he's not really into building. more breaking. so i had to hold my breath and count to ten when he destroyed the awesome tower i built over the train tracks, or when he tried to put the cowboy inside the bank and wrecked that too. maybe i'll build it while he's sleeping...

if you're looking for a really good blog, present company excluded, visit this one. this is my former co-worker, still good friend, and if she doesn't make you laugh out loud you don't have a funny bone. also, if you need a little touch up work done, she's the master. she taught me everything i know. (and i'm not talking about liposuction or breast aumentation)

$o.o1

the price of stamps went up again. i think the last time this happened was when tom and i got married. we sent out all these thank-yous but had to have the extra one cent stamp to add to the already purchased stamps. so now they're offering the forever stamp. you buy it for 41 cents and it will always be good, even when the postal service raises the prices again (and they will.) i listened to 'wad'ya know' on npr saturday and michael feldman said if it really is a "forever" stamp then you should be able to reuse it too. so if someone sends you a letter you should cut it out and either give it back to them or use it the next time you send a letter. i like this idea, except for the fact that we hardly ever get any mail with real stamps and right now i'm sending out baby announcements (yes she is already three months old, but in the grand scheme that's not that old). so it's off to the post office to get some one cent stamps, and maybe some forever stamps. check a mailbox near you. i dare you to reuse it.

sidenote: do you call him the postman or the mailman? (and no jokes about calling him "dad")

so i changed the background (again) because i forgot i left it on that white and ick, that's not very appealing, is it? but check out this header. is that a grape? olive? some type of leaf that has food attached to it? surely they're associated with food...maybe i should change the name of the blog to foodfoodfoodilovefoodilovetoeat.blogspot.com

you're wondering where i've been. did you look for me in the kitchen? it's been a rough two weeks and there's one more to go. and i will be honest, dear reader, i've fallen off the wagon. a week ago i realized i had become a maniac and decided to save my husband and children and start eating what america eats. cheese. and bread. and sometimes fruit with my meat. and it tastes good. it was gradual, this easing out of the cleanse, like i had my back to the door and while graciously bowing, i scooted out.

tom meanwhile still endures the cleanse, eating strictly according to the schedule and menu. that menu is created by me and is one of the reasons why i was crazy. grilling lunch, grilling dinner. chopping peppers for lunch. chopping onions for dinner. peeling and slicing carrots for a snack. going to the grocery store every three days. closing my eyes as the long-haired cashier at whole foods tells me the total. thanking the lord that sam's club offers organic salad in bulk. and in a container made of corn.

was cooking really what drove me to madness? no, not just the time in the kitchen, or the heat of the grill on muggy days. it was the money. and the lack of variety. and the fact that if we were in a time crunch, we really couldn't go out to eat, and certainly not fast food. how does a family function if mom is a wreck?

i'm not too proud to tell you that a lack of will and discipline was involved. i can omit sugar for a time. i can omit cheese for a time. i can omit carbs (nevermind they're sugar too) for a time. i can even omit sauces. but all these things at the same time? and then limiting my protein portions (don't worry, i upped it for the baby's sake). being allowed to eat as many veggies as i want doesn't really make up for all the other stuff.

surely i learned something from my week of "cleansing".

things i learned while not eating whatever i want whenever i want, by leah blake
1) i like food
a) i like to cook food
b) i like to eat food
c) i like to give food as a gift

2) i am not a scheduled person
a) breakfast, lunch and dinner always come first for wyatt
b)breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, second lunch, dinner and second dinner for cassidy always take priority over my stomach
c) tom gets to eat when i eat, unless it involves granola or eggs

3) beets are not scary
a) i know where the term "beet red" comes from
b) you can grill beets or bake beets and they're good
c) they're kind of like potatoes
d) if i were into textiles i'd use them a lot to dye things

4) i do not like lamb, sam i amb

a) not ground

b) not leg

5) larabars are amazing
a) fruit and nuts, what's not to love?
b) soy free, gluten free, dairy free, no gmo, no added sugar, unprocessed, raw, and kosher
c) you can buy them at sam's for less than $1.oo

6) eggs are better with cheese and butter
a) tom likes them with a side of potatoes
b) i like them with a side of toast
c) we both like them with a side of bacon

7) the grill is my friend
a) not much clean up
b) fast cooking
c) you can put anything on it

in short (don't you love it when people say that at the end of a long monologue?) i'm not on the cleanse any more and i'm really excited for tom and the other 7 people who are on it to be finished so we can eat cinnamon rolls and drink coffee. yum.

this is so sad but i just saw a really well-taken photograph of someone wearing a jean jacket with a hoodie underneath and jeans and i thought, i wish it were cool outside. didn't we just leave winter?

day three

all part of a complete breakfast. it's really hard when you wake up saturday morning and all you want to do is scramble some eggs, fry some bacon and drown your pancakes in sweet, sweet syrup and then you remember, i get to drink a shake this morning. 18 days left and i'm hungry. really the shakes aren't too bad. you add a supplement powder and a fiber powder and some oil to water and frozen fruit and you've got yourself some kind of smoothie. it's nothing to complain about. it's quite filling and once you add pineapple to anything it tastes nice. it's the lack of real food in the morning. no spoon, no fork. oh i forgot to mention but definitel no coffee. i repeat: NO COFFEE. we've got some broadway coffee sitting on the shelf, as well as some allegro coffee from whole foods, both birthday presents for tom. the timing was off a little bit on his 30th, that's for sure. now when i open the cupboard for a glass to pour my shake into i get a waft of luna in whole bean form. what am i learning from all of this? i miss cooking. i miss that complete meal with the right beverage and side and dessert. oh dessert. not that we aren't eating. just not very much. more on that later. (they say your energy increases on this thing but i have yet to enjoy that benefit.) with heavy eyes i'll dream of cinnamon rolls and black coffee...i shouldn't even joke like that.

day one

7 pills + 3 times a day = 21 stinky pills
they'll clean you out one way or the other

for unka jo

we serve up cute little burritos and tons of tortilla chips, so come on over... take that christiano ronaldo...this is what cute looks like with its shirt off...
so then the fish said to the seahorse...

the day i forgot

i'm in the midst of it, so i'm not going to forget it. yet. while wyatt is on the accelorated track for cuteness, his words are slow in understanding. he'll talk for hours but only he knows what he's saying. today he reached into the suitcase of toys and said "BALL" and lo-and-behold he pulled out the soccer ball! huzzah!

he says "atchoo" when i sneeze; in a semi-reckognizable way he says "what's this"; and is starting to say "sis" i guess. i think he might be saying "Jesus" a lot, so maybe he's already learning how to talk with the messiah. nice. but today was remarkable because he said it on his own and then produced the ball.

woodpecker
we have a beak-challenged woodpecker banging on our sun porch. it's not wood. at all. there are no termites living inside. it makes a very loud noise when he bangs on it and i think he'll eventually suffer a bent beak if he doesn't stop.

joe
he sent me pictures of his czech girlfriend, iva, and she's a looker. those darn skinny europeans.

food
the cleanse starts tomorrow. that means we're eating uber-healthy. no carbs, no fun. i won't be baking for 21 days. we'll see what that does with my free time.

stay tuned for some bathtub photos. if i can figure out video on this blog there may be some of that, too.

i promise

we're alive here, and kicking for that matter. just a little under the weather and recovering from the pre-birthday, birthday and post-birthday gatherings. yup, he's thirty. 30. three-zero.

oh, and the wizards won their first game, on the road at rfk. kc-4, dc-2. our new pick-up michael harrington showed us he's a starter and good ol' sasha showed us he's still got it.

my competition

happy 60th birthday emmylou (i know there are prettier pictures of emmylou, but this one is with a dog and who doesn't love dogs as much as their favorite country singer?)